Perceived US Cowardice Fuels Terrorism

I found this on CNS News.

Perceived US Cowardice Fuels Terrorism, Former CIA Head Declares By Kathleen Rhodes CNSNews.com Correspondent February 09, 2005

(CNSNews.com) - The increased frequency with which Middle Eastern terrorists target Americans and U.S. installations is due in part to the terrorists' continued perception that America acts cowardly when under attack, according to former Central Intelligence Agency director R. James Woolsey.

Woolsey, who addressed students and reporters at George Washington University Tuesday, said America's reaction to the 1979 hostage crisis in Iran and the deaths of 241 U.S. marines in 1983 are examples of why that perception endures.

With President Jimmy Carter trying to negotiate the hostages' release in 1979 and 1980, the reaction of the average American was to "tie yellow ribbons around trees," Woolsey said. A few years later, when Hezbollah terrorists blew up the U.S. marine barracks in Beirut, Lebanon, Americans "ran," he added.

Throughout the 1980s, as Americans like Leon Klinghoffer on the cruise ship Achille Lauro were killed and others were kidnapped in Lebanon, "what did the Americans do? They sent the lawyers," Woolsey said.

The George H. W. Bush administration in 1991, after ending combat in the first Persian Gulf War, encouraged [Iraqi] Kurds and Shia to rebel, then stopped and "watched the Kurds and Shia be massacred" by forces loyal to Saddam Hussein, who had been left in power, Woolsey said.

American cowardice was also perceived when the United States pulled out of Somalia in 1993 after American soldiers on a humanitarian mission were ambushed by terrorists in Mogadishu, according to Woolsey. The incident in Somalia, he said, helped solidify the view among terrorists, that "if bloodied, [the United States] will run."

Woolsey lumped America's current Middle Eastern enemies into three categories: "fascists," which he said include Saddam Hussein's Baath Party loyalists in Iraq; Shia "Islamists," which include the mullahs in Iran; and Sunni "Islamists," which include al Qaeda and the Wahabbi sect of Saudi Arabia.

The term "Islamist," Woolsey said, "Connotes a totalitarian movement masquerading as a religion."

Woolsey drew parallels to World War II, comparing the motives of Islamist terrorists to those of Nazi Germany and imperialist Japan.

"In a certain sense, they have come after us for the same reason that Hitler decided to declare war on us after Japan attacked us at Pearl Harbor. He knew ultimately he was going to lose unless he took us out," Woolsey explained. "And I think it's the underlying reason that these three totalitarian movements in the Middle East all feel that way about us -- pretty much the same reason that Hitler [did]."

For those of you who read regularly you have seen me mention Clinton’s great debacle in Somalia. I have said for years that not following through only provides further incentive for terrorists to attack. The perception that we won't act motivates countries like Korea to build nuclear weapons.

Hopefully now, the world is learning that we are following through and will will stomp a mud hole in anyone who threatens democracy and our freedom and walk it dry.

For the full story follow the link at the top of this entry.

SlagleRock Out!

Posted by SlagleRock at February 10, 2005 07:59 AM